Each and every day, I lose myself in the immediacy of the moment, find myself in the joy of the movement. Each and every day, I learn more and more...and, within that new knowledge, realize that I have so much farther to travel.

Shallom Johnson is a contemporary dance artist, visual artist and freelance writer based in Vancouver BC. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University, and has been active in the Vancouver dance community as a choreographer, performer, and instructor since her graduation in 2004.

Shallom is interested in art in public spaces, site-specific performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community involvement. Her street-based artwork, performance and photography examines and documents who gets to make art, where it gets made, and where/how the creative process and product is viewed. In the future, she hopes to explore this theme further via new media and technologies, new methods of creation, collaboration and community engagement.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Have SpaceTimeShip Will Travel (May request inflight musicmovies)

I was wandering around Dupont Circle on Monday because I got there waaay before call time. I seem to attract strange characters, wherever I go - this guy came up to me and started going on and on about all kinds of weird stuff. He gave me this flyer:

And told me to check out this website: Kitsault.com. It's a northern BC ghost town that was bought by a Washington businessman in 2005.

Kitsault was built in 1980 to take advantage of a rich molybdenum deposit in the area. It was a company-built mining town, 3.5 hours drive away from Terrace, BC. The town had all the amenities of any other modern town, including a hospital, rec centre, pool, movie theatre, homes and apartments, post office, bank and grocery store. Many people moved in once construction was finished, mostly company workers and their families. In 1982 there was a huge drop in the molybdemun market, and the mine was closed for good. Everyone moved out of town, the gates were locked and the town was promptly forgotten. It's all still sitting there, including the molybdenum, all 110 tons of it.

I found all of this very strange - I grew up in Northern BC, not that far away from Terrace - and I'd never heard of Kitsault, not even once. I'd like to go and visit, it seems like a very spooky place. "Kitsault was left empty and eerie. The glasses are still stacked for the next pint at the Maple Leaf Pub. The sign-in sheet at the day-care center shows a dwindling roster of 3-year-olds. Amber LaForge was the last to attend -- alone -- on June 27, 1983. The pool was left filled. Residents left the doors unlocked." (The Washington Post, July 2005)

Plans for development include: "an eco-tourist destination or an artist's colony...conferences, gathering scientists for forums and evening salmon-roasts on the beach. Wedding receptions. A corporate retreat. A movie set. Skiing, hiking, a spa, bans on smoking and cars, maybe a high-speed hydrofoil to bring tourists 85 miles from Prince Rupert." The guy who was telling me about all of this was excited about going up there for an artists retreat, he said he was a musician. And also a spacetime traveller. Who has a thing for inflight musicmovies.

If you'd like to meet this guy you can probably find him at Dupont Circle park, or hey - just give him a call! Maybe he'll take you with him in his spacetimeship.